I always get a sick feeling when I hear politicians claiming they’re worried about our health.

The nanny state funds campaigns to urge us to look after our hearts and then won’t hire enough coronary specialists to fix them when they’re broken.

Last week a man with heart problems suffering chest pains went to see a cardiologist at a major hospital.

Forty-eight hours later, much of the time lying on a trolley, he left without seeing one.

This week she – the nanny state – announced she was banning TV adverts to make sure the kiddies are safe from the horrors of pizzas and burgers.

If youngsters have to wait three years for dental treatment on the teeth they might eat them with, too bad.

Ironically, the proposed TV ban on fast food adverts came a week after RTE exposed the creche scandal.

Nanny couldn’t be bothered inspecting the creches to ensure children’s safety because she was too busy banning fast food adverts and drink sponsorship.

That same auld nanny is forever fretting about how much booze young people drink.

Funny, she’s never too concerned if they don’t have enough food to eat or she wouldn’t have slashed child benefit.

At the same time the Irish people, and I’m one of them, have a dysfunctional relationship with alcohol.

But banning the Heineken Cup and shielding our eyes and ears from the Guinness Galway Plate is not going to solve our problems.

The old nanny state can be a bit of a bitch sometimes.

A few years ago nanny thought she knew best and came up with a cunning plan to save us from ciggies.

She got rid of the 10-pack in the belief that young people wouldn’t be able to afford 20s.

She was right, so instead they now buy them on the black market which is booming.

Now moderate smokers, who were content to buy 10 a day, are heavy smokers after being forced to buy 20 packs.

The net result is that although cigarettes are almost a tenner a pack and advertising is banned there are more people than ever smoking.

Nanny not only failed to protect our health she created a lucrative income for criminals while depriving the State of valuable revenue. Perfect.

She is now convinced that if events like the Heineken Cup are banned we’ll all stop drinking or at least cut down on the booze.

The figures show that, despite the intensive sponsorship, sales of beer have dropped dramatically here.

On the other hand the volume of wine being bought in off-licences and supermarkets has rocketed.

There is no FAI Cab Sav League of Ireland or Shiraz Hurling Championship but somehow half the country is drinking wine. So what does nanny do? She plans to ban beer adverts.

She knows it won’t work but that’s not the point, it gives the appearance that something is being done when it’s the complete opposite.

France brought in a similar ban on sponsorship more than 20 years ago and it had little impact on problem drinking.

But it gets better, for while people’s sports like GAA, soccer, rugby and horse racing will be starved of drinks company funding, so-called cultural events will be rolling in cash.

The proposed new ban will not cover such events which means rock concerts and dance festivals will be exempt.

I wouldn’t be Sports Minister Leo Varadkar’s biggest fan but fair play to him for pointing out nanny’s nonsense.

He said: “Why are arts and cultural events being treated differently? I don’t understand that, particularly with so many young people attending concerts and cultural events.”

Now you could have soon have a situation where a big match at Croke Park cannot be sponsored by a drinks company. On the other hand a huge concert in the Phoenix Park on the same day could be backed by a brewery.

Funny, I can’t remember GAA fans ever going berserk on the booze after an All-Ireland final.

But it’ll take us a while to forget the scenes of drink and drug-fuelled mayhem before and during the Swedish House Mafia gig in the Phoenix Park last summer.

Under the current plans the latter gig could be sponsored by a drinks company while the former couldn’t.

Nanny has also failed to explain how Irish teams compete in international competitions that will continue to be sponsored by the likes of Heineken.

If nanny was really worried about our health she’d ban banks sponsoring any event for their actions they have broken up as many homes and done more damage to society than the booze companies.

Their actions, and not sponsorship, could well be one of the reasons the nation has turned to drink.